LocoRoco is another Sony Japan Studio game I do not like. It is cutesy, but I hated the controls. You use the L1 and R1 buttons (assuming you are playing using a PS4 controller on the Vita TV like I was) to tilt the stage. Hold both the L1 and R1 buttons to jump, and press "O" to split yourself into multiple smaller versions of yourself. You get bigger by eating berries.

I am sorry, but I will never like this control scheme. Let me tilt the stage with the D-pad or analog sticks and let me jump with the face buttons. After finishing the first world, I pulled the plug on my playthrough.

Now, for a rant on Japan Studio. I swear, people are capping for Japan Studio. After they "closed down" (they merged with Team Asobi, the Astro Bot devs), people all over the internet were suddenly fans of Japan Studio's titles. Where were you when they released many of those games? You only realize how important something is, once you have lost it. I am sure there were genuine fans of Japan Studio who were not happy, but it feels like I am seeing more and more fake fans online.

I have many Japan Studio titles on multiple systems and the only one I liked was Shadow of the Colossus, but they co-developed that game with Team Ico. I did not like Ico, Gravity Rush, or Ape Escape and Gravity Rush is a title I have grown to dislike more as time passes. Knack 2 is a meme, but not a good game. I have not played Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Wild Arms, the Patapon trilogy, Gravity Rush 2, or Last Guadian (as of Feb 20, 2024), so I have no opinions on those. Astro's Playroom is a decent platformer, but that is more of a tech demo for the PS5. So far, Japan Studio has not won me over.

Who knows? Maybe when I get to those games I mentioned that I have not played, it might change my mind. As of now, Japan Studio is overhyped.

I really enjoyed the vibes and fun hidden area filled design until it became very formulaic. Every world has similar themed levels that didn’t reinvent themselves in interesting ways. I felt like I had seen it all after just completing the 1st world. It has novelty but it’s short lived. I completed world 3 of 6 before I gave up.

The amount of times you hear each unskippable song from your little guys gets extremely tiring. If you explore a level fully you could hear it three times and that’s in the span of the 15 minutes it took me to beat one. And you’ll be hearing it multiple times every single level. It doesn’t help that this required musical pause from the platforming slows down the flow of the game. I just starting skipping the areas I knew would have these moments.

Also I was let down by the fact that your new locoroco colored species don’t change the gameplay at all and only change the music.

One thing that surprised me is the game’s difficulty and frankly its cruelty as well. If you go for 100% you could be in for a very long drudge through the same level just to get that coveted 20/20 locorocos saved. This game doesn’t mess around with its obstacles and enemies. Many times you’ll be zooming around and because of the game’s constrained camera angle, you’ll fly into a hazard breaking apart your locoroco, leaving you scrambling to grab them. But you have a couple seconds to do so. It’s really punishing honestly.

It’s platforming is irritating too since it takes too long to turn each direction and some secret areas have been made particularly sadistic in the precision required. This game really could have benefited from a checkpoint system. If I only had to replay chunks of a level, I think my frustration would have been greatly alleviated. But that wouldn’t have saved it from its monotony.

I'll say this right now, LocoRoco is one of those games that is specifically designed to be played on a handheld, in short bursts.

The game itself, while it has a unique concept and a great artstyle, is unfortunately, too repetitive, as many of its levels start to blend with each other, in spite of some of the new gimmicks introduced in later levels.

When you go into a new world, you can always expect a snow level, or a level where you go inside a giant creature, and because of that, none of the worlds really stand out, making the game feel more repetitive.

Regardless, the game has its charm, and the soundtrack is good, I'd say, even if it was getting... repetitive the more I played the game.

Yep, you can definitely understand the keyword from all of this.

I probably won't play LocoRoco 2 for a good while, but I do hope some of this game's issues are addressed there.

I could repeat my entire LocoRoco 2 review here if I wanted, LocoRoco is an absolutely amazing concept for a platformer and I am so happy that after playing the sequel for so long during my childhood I could eventually get my hands on the original and play it.

To my disappointment, on my first playthrough I discovered many things that I loved about the sequel originated in the sequel. Although that does make me appreciate the second game even more, any time I play the first I can only wish for some of those features here.

With all that said, it isn't to say I don't still greatly enjoy this title with its unique level design, catchy gibberish songs, and extremely charming art style. It creates an extremely good foundation for the sequel to build off of.

One of those games where you're better off playing the first world, going "well wasn't that delightful" and then putting the game down. Every level feels like the game has no new ideas to bring to the table, all the same tricks rearranged a couple times, maybe more spike balls in places. Also, if you're looking to collect everything in a stage, it not only requires never getting hit but also a lot of weirdly precise platforming. This is a game that should be putting vibes above all else, and yet for a game that only uses the shoulder buttons to move, it expects some quick reaction and precision, usually just so you can collect an item for a mode that, while fun, is ultimately not all that engaging. It also felt unclear what was the surefire way to defeat enemies, sometimes hitting them from under works but once in a while they'll stop you and eat one of your locoroco, same with going from above, the way the Moja work in this game doesn't feel fair compared to what's at your disposal.

It's a shame I came away feeling like this, because this is a game with a lot of delightful things. The locoroco themselves are adorable in both design and sound, each having their own theme and voice lines for specific things in levels. They all speak in a made up language, one meant to sound like several different languages at once, and every song they and the Mui Mui sing is incredibly charming and catchy. A game so poppy should be a lot more consistently exciting, or just shorter and more focused. Five worlds of levels was clearly too many for this team to fill.

Also, man, the design of the Moja sure is questionable, huh? And also the black locoroco sounding and looking like that. I mean, it was 2006, surely they could have avoided stuff like this. It's not a huge deal breaker, but it just feels like this one thing that taints this game's happy-go-lucky attitude, I don't buy it's positivity anymore. Because of this, it brings me no joy to admit the black locoroco's theme goes hard.

This feels like a project that started with the best of intentions, but just ended up getting bloated while also having nothing to fill all that bloat. It's best to be looked at from a distance, as there's nothing to be gained from getting closer to it.